1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
"Folic Acid A Key to Health Babies: It can curb certain birth defects but only if taken before pregnancy. Yet most women, especially Latinas, are unaware"
"After declines, rate of birth defects rises again"
"The power of multivitamins: Latinas don't have a certain vitamin in their diet"
All by Heather May.
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
October 17, 2010.
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
This explores why Latinos have up to double the rate of neural tube defects despite an inexpensive vitamin that can drastically reduce the risk. While many women know to take prenatal vitamins during pregnancy, most don't know to take it before pregnancy. The reasons for the health disparity are lack of education and the government's failure to fortify corn masa flour, a staple of the Latin diet.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Extensive reviews of studies on folic acid and Latino birth defect rates.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
I found and followed a family whose daughter has spina bifida: Her Latina mother didn't know to take folic acid before pregnancy and believes that is why her daughter has the neural tube defect. I attended a doctor's appointment with them and a prosthetic fitting. I interviewed an international researcher with expertise on NTD rates and the genetic variant that may also explain why Latinos have higher rates. To highlight a new state program that promotes multivitamin use among childbearing-age women, I attended a WIC counseling session in which a dietitian promoted the use of folic acid before pregnancy. I also attended Spanish-language classes for low-income women where folic acid was promoted and interviewed women with a translator on what they knew to do before pregnancy.
6. Results (if any).
The story raised awareness for all child-bearing age women to take folic acid daily. A version of the story ran in our paper's Spanish-language supplement.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Find the compelling people to tell the story in the numbers. I had long known that Latinos had higher rates of neural tube defects but finding the right Latino family was critical. They were able to illustrate the real impacts of not taking a simple vitamin. They also illustrated how a government policy, not fortifying a type of flour, had real world impacts. The mother eats corn tortillas, which aren't fortified with folic acid, instead of bread, which is.